European Social Policy articles from September 2007

European Social Policy archives from September 2007

TRADE DEFENCE : MANDELSON DEFENDS EU COMPANIES' RIGHT TO RELOCATE THEIR PRODUCTION.(Peter Mandelson)
September 19, 2007... The EU's trade defence instruments (TDI) must not penalise European companies who have made the choice to relocate their production to low-wage countries, says EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson. For Mandelson, the time has come to reform...

POLAND AND THE CHARTER.(Poland's acceptance of the social part of the Charter of Fundamental Rights)(Brief article)
September 19, 2007... The Polish press is reporting that Foreign Ministry spokesman Robert Szaniawski has declared that Poland accepts the social part of the Charter of Fundamental Rights without reservation. An analysis is still under way on moral issues and on the...

POLISH OPT-OUT ON CHARTER.(Brief article)
September 19, 2007... The Polish government may choose not to take further action on the provision that allows it, like the British, not to apply (or rather not to make compulsory) certain provisions of the Charter of Fundamental Rights, particularly those on...

SOCIAL SECURITY : PROPOSAL TO EXTEND FUTURE REGULATIONS TO FOREIGNERS.(Brief article)
September 19, 2007... All nationals of non-EU countries must be allowed to continue benefiting from provisions that coordinate social security schemes in Europe. Accordingly, on 23 July, the European Commission proposed to the Council a new regulation to extend the...

HEALTH : ALCOHOL RISKS: EP ABANDONS DEMANDING COMMON RULES.(European Parliament)
September 19, 2007... The European Parliament has abandoned asking for common labelling rules on risks linked to alcohol. In its place, MEPs adopted by an overwhelming majority an amendment to the own-initiative report by Alessandro Foglietta (UEN, Italy) on 5...

CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASES.(European Parliament adoption of a resolution for cardio-vascular disease treatment)(Brief article)
September 19, 2007... On 12 July, the European Parliament adopted a resolution drafted by Georgs Andrejevs (ALDE, Latvia), with 607 votes in favour, 2 against, calling on the European Commission and member states to tackle the leading cause of death in Europe:...

GENDER EQUALITY : COMMISSION ADOPTS OPTIONS FOR NARROWING PAY GAP.
September 19, 2007... "In spite of strict legislation and a multitude of case law, a clear pay gap continues to exist between women and men on the job market," says the European Commission in a communication adopted on 18 July. In fact, in 2005, the pay gap between...

DRUGS : COMMISSION ASKS COUNCIL TO CONSIDER CRIMINALISING BZP.(benzylpiperazine)
September 19, 2007... The European Commission is to ask the Council to introduce control measures and criminal sanctions for the psychoactive substance called 1-benzylpiperazine (BZP). The Commission is acting on the advice of the European Monitoring Centre for...

IMMIGRATION : COMMISSION CALLS FOR INTEGRATION OF IMMIGRANTS.(European Commission)(Brief article)
September 19, 2007... Speaking on the occasion of the conference on legal immigration, organised by the Portuguese Presidency of the European Union, in Lisbon on 13 and 14 September, Vladimir Spidla, the European Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs and Equal...

GDANSK SHIPYARDS : COMMISSION HOLDS ITS GROUND BUT TRIES TO REASSURE SOLIDARNOSC.(European Commission)
September 19, 2007... The European Commission is remaining decidedly optimistic, noting that there is still a future for the Gdansk shipyard, in spite of the drastic capacity cuts it is imposing in compensation for the payment of illegal state aid. That is the...

HEALTH : COMMISSION INVITES EUROPEANS TO GET OUT OF THEIR ARMCHAIRS.(the European Commission and the Union of European Football Associations' advertising campaign for healthy living)(Brief article)
September 19, 2007... "Go on, get out of your armchair." With this energetic slogan, the European Commission and the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) hope to encourage European citizens to take daily physical exercise. The television campaign will...

FREE MOVEMENT OF PERSONS : COURT CONFIRMS RESIDENCE CONDITION FOR CHILD-RAISING ALLOWANCE.
September 19, 2007... The EU Court of Justice - sitting in Grand Chamber - has backed German legislation that justifies the refusal to grant child-raising allowance to a frontier worker if the beneficiary does not have a permanent or ordinary residence in the...

PROFESSIONAL QUALIFICATIONS : COURT OF JUSTICE NOT THE PLACE TO SETTLE POLITICAL DISPUTES.(European Union Court of Justice)(Brief article)
September 19, 2007... Poland has failed in its case brought before the EU Court of Justice contesting the 2005 Directive on the recognition of medical qualifications. The Court rejected the appeal out of hand on 18 July (Case C-460/05). Discussions on this...

POSTING OF WORKERS : COURT RULES AGAINST GERMANY BUT RAPS COMMISSION'S KNUCKLES.(European Union)
September 19, 2007... On 18 July, the EU Court of Justice ruled against Germany for failure to fulfil its obligations as a result of its legislation on the posting of workers (case C-490/04), but at the same time gave the European Commission a severe lesson on the...

CZECH AVERAGE MONTHLY WAGE UP.(Brief article)
September 19, 2007... According to the latest figures released by the Czech National Institute of Statistics, the average gross monthly wage in Czech Republic rose by 7.4% during the second quarter of 2007 over the same period in 2006. It climbed to nearly 740...

FLEXICURITY : EAPN ON COMBATING SOCIAL EXCLUSION.(European Anti Poverty Network)(Brief article)
September 19, 2007... "The security we need cannot be summarised by secured transitions between jobs!" In a response to the European Commission's expert group on flexicurity, the European network of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and groups involved in the...

FREE MOVEMENT OF WORKERS : ECJ CONSIDERS ALLOWANCE TRANSFERABLE TO ANOTHER MEMBER STATE.(European Union Court of Justice)(Brief article)
September 19, 2007... The EU Court of Justice deems that a national of a member state who, while continuing his employment relationship in that state, moved his permanent residence to another member state and since then has been gainfully employed as a frontier...

TRANSPORT/ DISABILITY : ENDING DISCRIMINATION AGAINST PERSONS WITH REDUCED MOBILITY.(Brief article)
September 19, 2007... As of 26 July, EU airlines and tour operators may not refuse to take bookings or to carry passengers, on the basis of their reduced mobility. On that date, new rules enter into force, namely certain provisions of Regulation 1107/2006 on the...

HEALTH : EP CALLS FOR APPLICATION OF INTERNATIONAL HEALTH REGULATIONS.(European Parliament)(Brief article)
September 19, 2007... The European Parliament has approved the objectives of the new international health regulations (IHR), adopted by the World Health Organisation in 2005 (and which came into force in June 2007), as the Council had done before them. In a...

MINIMUM INCOME : EP HEARING HIGHLIGHTS FIGHT AGAINST POVERTY.(European Parliament)
September 19, 2007... In a public hearing held on 12 September(1), members of the European Parliament's Committee on Employment and Social Affairs discussed with experts the role of minimum wages and incomes for social inclusion in the EU. Some MEPs pleaded for...

EQUAL PAY : ETUC BACKS COMMISSION CALL TO REDUCE GENDER PAY GAP.(European Trade Union Confederation)(Brief article)
September 19, 2007... The European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) agrees with the European Commission's analysis that the gender pay gap is caused by a whole range of factors and that it must be addressed by all relevant stakeholders, in particular the member...

JUSTICE AND HOME AFFAIRS : EU DRUG PREVENTION PROGRAMME FINALLY RUBBER-STAMPED.(European Union)(Brief article)
September 19, 2007... A long overdue programme on preventing drug abuse among Europeans can finally be kicked off, as MEPs in Strasbourg decided to support the common position of the Council on the programme specifics, enabling money from the EU coffers to be...

EMPLOYMENT : EU EMPLOYMENT RATES UP IN 2006.(Brief article)
September 19, 2007... In 2006, 214 million people aged 15 years or more had a job or a business activity in the EU27. The total employment rate for people aged 15-64 was 64.4% in 2006, compared with 62.2% in 2002 and 63.4% in 2005. The employment rate for women was...

UNEMPLOYMENT : EU JOBLESS RATE DOWN TO 6.8% IN JULY.(Brief article)
September 19, 2007... Eurozone seasonally-adjusted unemployment stood at 6.9% in July 2007, unchanged compared to June. It was 7.8% in July 2006. The EU27 unemployment rate was 6.8% in July 2007, compared with 6.9% in June. It was 7.9% in July 2006. These figures...

LABOUR COSTS : EU LABOUR COSTS UP BY 3.2%.(European Union)(Brief article)
September 19, 2007... Total hourly labour costs in the EU27 rose at an annual rate of 3.2% in nominal terms up to the second quarter of 2007, compared with 3.6% for the previous quarter, indicated Eurostat on 12 September. The two main components of labour costs...

EUROBAROMETER : EUROPEANS SEEM GENERALLY SATISFIED WITH CITY LIVING.(Brief article)
September 19, 2007... European citizens generally like living in cities and expect them to improve as places in which to live and work. That is one of the conclusions drawn by the European Commission from a Eurobarometer survey on the quality of life in European...

PROFESSIONAL TRAINING : EUROPEAN TRAINING FOUNDATION TO HAVE ITS SCOPE EXTENDED.(Brief article)
September 19, 2007... The European Commission proposed,aon 25 July, an amendment to the European Training Foundation's (ETF) regulation to bring it into line with the latest economic and social situation. This would involve extending the scope of the agency's...

YOUTH/UNEMPLOYMENT : EUROPE NEEDS TO TACKLE "WASTE OF HUMAN CAPITAL".
September 19, 2007... Europe's youth unemployment rate remains too high, according to the European Commission, notably for women and people from a migrant background. Figures published in a new Commission policy document indicate that youth unemployment stands...

EMPLOYMENT : EUROZONE AND EU27 WORKER NUMBERS UP BY 0.5%.(Brief article)
September 19, 2007... The seasonally adjusted number of persons employed in the thirteen countries of the eurozone rose by 0.5% (776,000 persons) during the second quarter of 2007, according to provisional national accounts estimates published on 13 September by...

SOCIAL SECURITY : FLANDERS MAY NOT DISCRIMINATE AGAINST WALLOON WORKERS.(Belgians)
September 19, 2007... The EU Court of Justice could soon be exacerbating the ill feelings that already exist in the quarrel over social security between Flemings and Walloons in Belgium. In an opinion handed down in late June, Advocate-General Eleanor Sharpston...

PRISONS : FRANCE AND GERMANY TABLE PROPOSAL FOR ALTERNATIVE SANCTIONS.(Brief article)
September 19, 2007... France and Germany have proposed to their European partners to adopt a framework decision allowing the "recognition and supervision of suspended sentences, alternative sanctions and conditional sentences". Published in the EU Official Journal...

FREE MOVEMENT OF WORKERS : GERMANY CONSIDERS EASING LABOUR MARKET RESTRICTIONS.(Brief article)
September 19, 2007... The German government has announced its intention to partially open, in several months, its labour market to workers from eight member states that joined the EU in 2004 [Cyprus's Treaty of Accession contains no restrictions on free movement of...

ASYLUM/IMMIGRATION : ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION TO BE A MAJOR FOCUS OF PORTUGUESE JHA AGENDA.(Justice and Home Affairs)
September 19, 2007... Making progress on measures linked to the fight against illegal immigration is set to be one of the main themes of the Portuguese Presidency in the field of Justice and Home Affairs. According to the Presidency's plan of activities, the...

ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION : MEPS EXPECTED TO RAISE PROPOSED LIMIT TO DETENTION FOR DEPORTEES.(Member of the European Parliament)
September 19, 2007... MEPs, voting on 12 September, have made significant changes to European Commission proposals on how member states should handle the deportation of illegal immigrants. One of the most striking of the amendments is an extension to the period...

MEPS SEEK TO EXTEND EURES SERVICES.(European Employment Services)(Brief article)
September 19, 2007... The internet portal EURES, which lists job vacancies at the European level, should become "a one-stop shop for workers' geographical and occupational mobility, intended to remove existing obstacles and to extend the knowledge of all workers...

INTERNAL MARKET : MEP STRESSES NEED TO INVEST IN SOCIAL REALM AND PUBLIC SERVICES.(Member of the European Parliament, Robert Goebbels)
September 19, 2007... In anticipation of the European Commission communication on revision of the internal market (November at the earliest), Robert Goebbels, vice-chair of the Socialist Group in the EP, firmly reminded the Commission of its obligations in the...

FLEXICURITY : MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE TO PREPARE COMMON PRINCIPLES.(Conference news)(Brief article)
September 19, 2007... Opening the ministerial conference on flexicurity on 13 and 14 September in Lisbon, European Commissioner for Employment Vladimir Spidla defended the concept of flexicurity, criticised by certain unions and political parties. "Some amongst you...

SERVICES OF GENERAL ECONOMIC INTEREST : MORE NEEDS TO BE DONE FOR COMPETITION, SAYS ALMUNIA.(Joaquin Almunia)
September 19, 2007... "The EU's policy of opening the telecoms, transport and other network industries to competition has been the right one, since this has made them more competitive putting downward pressure on prices without compromising either the service or its...

EDUCATION : NEW FIGURES REVEAL LIMITED NATURE OF STUDENT MOBILITY IN EUROPE.
September 19, 2007... The number of university students choosing to study in another European country remains quite limited, according to a new report, despite efforts made by policy-makers to encourage mobility. The report, which analyses trends across 31...

SOCIAL POLICY : NGO OUTLINES EFFECTS OF DEMOGRAPHIC CHANGES BY 2050.(German Foundation for World Population)(Brief article)
September 19, 2007... Demographic changes in the coming years will lead to a drastic shift in the world, and also in Europe, according to a report from the German Foundation for World Population (DSW), an NGO. By 2050, Germany would have lost its demographic lead,...

PARENTAL WAGE A SUCCESS IN GERMANY.(Brief article)
September 19, 2007... The new parental wage, an income replacement measure created on 1 January to enable German parents to care for their children at home for one year and thus to combat a declining birth rate, seems to be a huge success with the German public....

POLAND STILL RESTLESS ON CHARTER.(Charter of Fundamental Rights)(Brief article)
September 19, 2007... Through a press release, Poland's Ministry for Foreign Affairs has confirmed that it intends to join the UK protocol allowing for a partial opt-out from the Charter of Fundamental Rights (on the examination by a British or European court of the...

PUBLIC HEALTH : PORTUGAL AIMS TO FOCUS ON HEALTH AND MIGRATION.
September 19, 2007... Portugal, holding the EU Presidency until the end of 2007, wishes to introduce a new health theme: Health and migration in the EU'. On the basis of a conference which will be held from 27 to 28 September in Lisbon, the EU Presidency will...

REGIONAL AID FOR HOUSING.(Brief article)
September 19, 2007... The question of eligibility for Structural Fund support for energy performance in housing does indeed require clarification, Regional Policy Commissioner Danuta Hubner has recognised. She was responding to the European Liaison Committee for...

REPORT ON DOCTORAL EDUCATION IN EUROPE.(Brief article)
September 19, 2007... Concern has been expressed by Europe's university sector regarding the level of public funding available to doctoral students. A new report, published by the European University Association, suggests that public funding for doctoral students is...

EMPLOYMENT : ROME PRESSED TO RECOVER ILLEGAL AID.(Brief article)
September 19, 2007... More than three years following the EU Court of Justice's decision, Italy still has not recovered some 300 million in employment aid granted to a large number of companies in the 1990s and considered to be illegal in terms of EU rules. The...

ASYLUM / IMMIGRATION : "SERIOUS SHORTCOMINGS" IDENTIFIED IN MANAGEMENT OF REFUGEE FUND.(European Refugee Fund )
September 19, 2007... Money from the European Refugee Fund was not distributed correctly in the period 2000-2004, according to the EU Court of Auditors, in a report published on 17 July. The Court has found that, during this first period of operation of the...

EMPLOYMENT : SHARP CONTRAST IN DAYS' LEAVE ACROSS EU.
September 19, 2007... Marked differences exist between EU member states in the total number of days' leave they offer workers, with some countries having almost three-and-a-half working weeks' more time off than others. Research findings published on 19 July from...

DEMOGRAPHIC CHANGES : SPIDLA OFFERS "TO DO LIST" FOR BUSINESSES.(Vladimir Spidla)(Brief article)
September 19, 2007... During a meeting of the Lisbon Council (a Brussels think tank) on 11 September, Vladimir Spidla presented "a little to do list" for companies, in order to better face up to demographic change. Firstly, "the incentives to work longer must...

STRUCTURAL FUNDS/CZECH REPUBLIC/IRELAND.(Brief article)
September 19, 2007... The European Commission announced, on 27 July, that it had reached agreement with the Czech Republic and Ireland on their national strategic reference frameworks (NSRF), which determine their investment priorities for Cohesion Policy 2007-2013....

STRUCTURAL FUNDS IN DENMARK.(Brief article)
September 19, 2007... The European Commission announced in mid-August that it had approved Denmark's Innovation and Knowledge' operational programme, one of the two programmes implementing the National Strategic Reference Framework, which sets the country's...

STRUCTURAL FUNDS IN GERMANY.(Brief article)
September 19, 2007... The European Commission announced the approval, on 19 August, of five operational programmes in Germany implementing the National Strategic Reference Framework, which sets out the country's priorities for cohesion policy for 2007-2013: the...

STRUCTURAL FUNDS IN HUNGARY.(Brief article)
September 19, 2007... The European Commission adopted on 7 September the last of the 13 operational programmes (OPs) funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and the two programmes funded by the European Social Fund (ESF) for Hungarian regions....

STRUCTURAL FUNDS IN POLAND.(Brief article)
September 19, 2007... Regional Policy Commissioner Danuta Hubner signed, on 6 September in Krynica (southern Poland), five operational programmes (OP) for Polish regions for 2007-2013. These five programmes represent a total amount of 6.7 billion and cover the...

STRUCTURAL FUNDS IN SLOVENIA.(Brief article)
September 19, 2007... The European Commission approved on 27 August two operational programmes in Slovenia that implement the convergence objective of the national strategic reference framework (which sets out the country's priorities for cohesion policy 2007-2013)....

TURKISH WORKERS : STUDENT AU PAIRS AND THEIR RESIDENCE RIGHTS.
September 19, 2007... The European Court of Justice was asked to examine several cases involving young Turkish au pairs and students who were carrying on a secondary activity in the United Kingdom (Payir, Akyuz and Ozturk cases, C 294/06). The Court was asked to...

WORKING TIME DIRECTIVE : STUDY PROPOSES CHANGING THE REFERENCE PERIOD.
September 19, 2007... The European Parliament has published an impact study on the Working Time Directive (WTD). It was commissioned by the EP's Committee on Employment and was written by Terence Hogarth and Simonas Vileikis (Rambol Management, Copenhagen). The...

IGC 2007 : SUBSIDIARITY, THE CORNERSTONE OF ACTIONS ON HEALTH.(intergovernmental conference)
September 19, 2007... While slightly more importance is attached to public health compared to the provisions of the existing treaty, the member states put emphasis on the subsidiarity principle, which characterises the EU's activities in this sector. This is the...

TAXATION : SWEDEN TOLD TO END DISCRIMINATORY TAX SYSTEM.(Brief article)
September 19, 2007... The Commission is challenging Swedish tax rules in two separate cases. In the first, the Commission has formally requested that Sweden end discriminatory rules that apply to non-residents paying income tax in the country. The Swedish system...

SOCIAL EXCLUSION : THE DUTCH WAJONG' AND THE FREE MOVEMENT OF PERSONS.(Brief article)
September 19, 2007... The Dutch incapacity benefit for disabled young people ( Wajong') must be considered a special non-contributory benefit, within the meaning of Regulation 1408/71 on social security, the EU Court of Justice stated in a judgement handed down on...

JUSTICE AND HOME AFFAIRS : UK OPT-OUT TO BE EXTENDED UNDER REFORM TREATY.
September 19, 2007... The opt-out won by the United Kingdom from future EU legislation on police and judicial cooperation in criminal matters, secured during negotiations at the EU summit of heads of state and government in June, has been confirmed in a draft...

URBAN POLICY : URBAN POLICIES CAN DRIVE GROWTH.
September 19, 2007... With their concentrations of jobs, companies and higher education institutes, cities can play a decisive role in the EU's competitiveness in a globalised economy. This is one of the conclusions of an independent study carried out for the...

IGC 2007 : WHY DID THE DUTCH DEFEND PUBLIC SERVICES?
September 19, 2007... If the draft treaty contains a protocol on economic services of general interest (ESGI), the credit has to be given to the Dutch. The proposal met with weakly voiced support from Belgium, Luxembourg and France, but a positive reaction from...

WORK SHORTAGES FORCE A RENEWAL OF SOCIAL POLICES.
September 19, 2007... In a European context where unemployment still exceeds 10% in several countries, the shortage of work becomes an equally worrying social problem. It threatens not only certain geographical areas - in the north of Europe in particular - but also...